Status is not only dependant on the rarity of something but of its contempory spread and status too.

In most part of the world Autochromes remained a rarity even in their time. Modern colour photographic materials had a quite different spreading, even developed into expandables. I assume this to influence future asessment in case of having become obsolete.

An other factor is fashion. I mean a change of attitude towards obsolete things that can hardly be reasoned.

I do think the desirability of analog prints will grow as they become more rare. There are clients who will pay for a hand-printed, analog portrait. 30 years ago, that was nothing special. Today, there is something to it.

I shoot digital when I have to (most of those shots end up here) and film (occasionally one of those shots ends up here) when I want to.

Well for instance Kodachrome has already gone and so the number of Kodachrome images in the world is now finite, if you get my drift.

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Finite, but probably numbering in the billions. There are 10,000 active listings for Kodachrome slides on eBay. Their value appears to be related to the rarity of the image, not the extinction of the particular medium.

Well for instance Kodachrome has already gone and so the number of Kodachrome images in the world is now finite, if you get my drift.

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Finite, but probably numbering in the billions. There are 10,000 active listings for Kodachrome slides on eBay. Their value appears to be related to the rarity of the image, not the extinction of the particular medium.

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And Ektachrome always had much better color accuracy and rendition.

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Finite, but probably numbering in the billions. There are 10,000 active listings for Kodachrome slides on eBay. Their value appears to be related to the rarity of the image, not the extinction of the particular medium.

True, but for some reason, the Kodachrome listings outnumber Ektachrome 10-to-1. Many of the sales are photos of fire trucks; I guess the collectors like that Kodachrome red.

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That's the point. A technical one.
If collectors/photographers had a deep understanding of Kodachrome (and many did not), they would appreciate that Kodachrome was the best film at the time for red: roses, fire trucks, hydrants, rockets... anything where red needed to be recorded with greater accuracy over, for instance, muddly and bluey Ektachrome or the later Vaudevillian Fujichrome films.

Kodachrome, Fujichrome...whatever 'chrome prints are not collectable; why should they be? The original images (transparencies) are and antiquarian dealers would pay serious money for them. This is because printing is not a precise rendition of the recorded image (on film) and as such art dealers/collectors routinely devalue it. But an image like e.g. McCurry's "Afghan Girl" is locked away in a bank vault, despite having been reproduced ad nauseum everywhere on the web and commemorative prints made just as often, they are nowhere near the perpetual value of the original image.

Finite, but probably numbering in the billions. There are 10,000 active listings for Kodachrome slides on eBay. Their value appears to be related to the rarity of the image, not the extinction of the particular medium.

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There is/was a definite preference from aircraft enthusiasts and photo collectors for Kodachrome shots, and there was a lot of adverse comment on specialist sites when Kodachrome discontinuence was announced (and, to perhaps a lesser extent, for train enthusiasts). Probable a perceived accuracy and consistency of color rendering.

But an image like e.g. McCurry's "Afghan Girl" is locked away in a bank vault, despite having been reproduced ad nauseum everywhere on the web and commemorative prints made just as often, they are nowhere near the perpetual value of the original image.

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The existance of that original transpareny is an added value for a collector for an already iconic photograph. But that would bot apply to the vast majority of still existing Kodachrome slides. If they were nor re-discoverd as important and collectable photograph imagewise.